Big Blessing!

Yesterday we had a growth ultrasound and our regular ob check--everything looks great. I'd regale you with a list of all the things that are right on track (blood pressure, cervical length, yada yada), but you've all already heard it.

The only new thing to report is that they are currently estimating our baby to be 3 lbs 12 oz. That's big! According to babycenter.com, at this gestation our baby should be weighing about 2.5 lbs, so we're way ahead of the curve. I've been tested for gestational diabetes (one factor in producing large babies), and the test came back negative, so this is likely just a big baby. Scott and his siblings were all big babies, and both Caden and Isobel were big for their gestations, so I'm not surprised.

A few people have asked me if it makes me nervous that this baby is already so big, and the answer is no. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. To my reckoning, a 3 lb 12 oz baby seems so much more likely to survive if born now...not that we have any current indication that I'm in danger of delivering early, but still I feel more relieved with every ounce that this baby gains.

2. There's no way I'm going to carry this baby to full-term. I was reading an article on cervical cerclages and I learned that only 11% of women who have cerclages go into spontaneous labor in the 48 hours following the removal of the cerclage. I went into labor with Caden 15 hours after my cerclage was removed -- that puts me in the 11%. Now, I'm already aware that every pregnancy and every baby are different (believe me, I'm very aware of that fact). However, based on my history, it seems entirely likely that I will go into labor shortly after my doctor removes the cerclage. We are trying to schedule this for the first week in November, which would be 36 weeks gestation. Even assuming that my body surprises us and decides not to go into spontaneous labor, my doctors will not let me carry this baby to 40 weeks. There are too many risk factors with the size of the baby and the jka antibody I carry.

So, no, I'm not worried that I'll be having an 11 lb baby -- I'm pleased that this little one is packing on the pounds and getting bigger and stronger each day, preparing to be born. Grow, baby, grow!